ADDER’S FORK

Was it hard to come up with a name? What does the name mean to you? How important is it to have the right name?
– It’s always hard to come up with a band name these days, since so many have been taken already.
Yet, the imagery and memorability of the “Adder’s Fork” ingredient out of the “Macbeth” play felt fitting for my project, it wasn’t a difficult choice after reading about it.

Who would say have laid the foundation for the kind of sound you have? Who are your heroes musically and what have they meant to you personally and to the sound of your band?
— The foundation of my sound is Heavy Metal after all. Some of the more extreme genres have been my primal influence, even though they don’t seem that prominent in Adder’s Fork’s music – like Rotting Christ’s earlier albums, or Varathron’s creations. The influence of Hellenic black metal is still there, even though I abandoned the extreme metal label with the last breath of my old project, “Shores of Sheol”. My growing love for 80s gothic music – like The Cure, The Sisters of Mercy or mid-era Killing Joke – has been a driving force for the combination of the genres. I’ve started thinking about marrying the two a long time ago and the increased use of synthesized sounds in my writing and arpeggiated chords in my guitar practice finally led to the creation of Adder’s Fork. “The Individualist” is now my strongest work so far in the execution of my preferred writing style – I’m really proud of the outcome.

When you play slow do you have to think differently arranging the music than if you play faster and vice versa?
– Yes, there’s quite a difference in the writing approach. Creating slow, doom-ish songs is difficult. It needs a lot of elements to be (and to remain!) interesting, unlike short bursts of fist-pumping thrashiness which are usually easier to latch onto.

Will your music work in a live environment? What kind of stage environment would best suit your music; a big stage or a small club?
– When I’m thinking about a possible live performance some time in the distant future, I’m visualizing playing on stages in small, hot clubs with an aura of sleazy dirt and a contrary mixture of joy and depression tangible within the people around me.

It is very hard to be 100% satisfied. Everybody seems to be disappointed with something they have released. Is there something that you in hindsight would have done differently on this your latest recording?
– True. You need to crave for improvement, otherwise you won’t be able to outperform yourself. But it takes a while to get a clear vision, right now I’m absolutely satisfied with “The Individualist” and would not change a riff or line – not yet!

Promotion can be a bitch. Even today with all different platforms it can be hard to reach out to all those that might be interested in your music? What alleys have you used to get people familiarized with your band?
– It is VERY hard to find new fans, even though there are more potential listeners than ever in this digital, streaming world! I’ve been working with a promotion company (Grand Sounds Promotion)for the first time and they’re
definitely very helpful in terms of gaining new listeners and reviewers and I’d work with such companies gain. Fact is -> if you want to get your music heard by more than just people close to you, there’s a lot of free time to be taken for promotion and you gotta be OK with investing a little cash for outsourced support.

To me art work can be the difference between bust or success. What to you is a great front cover? What should a cover have to make it great?
– The same principle applies to artwork. If you can’t draw for shit you HAVE to get an artist to do that for you. Otherwise no one will care for a basic or even outright bad paint-by-the-numbers “art”. A great cover demands your attention, it SCREAMS for a moment of your time! Some of my favourite album covers are Testament’s “Practice What You Preach” for that strangely deviant but attractive color tone, Immortal’s “At the Heart of Winter” for pure epicness and Bell Witch’s “Mirror Reaper” for sheer artistic value.

Do you feel that you are part of a national scene? Is a local/national scene important for the development of new bands?
– Unfortunately, not at all. While the majority of my listeners are indeed from my homeland, the actual support in terms of press coverage and promotion possibilities is rather weak. Austria has never done too much for its musical underground, so local musicians have to look beyond country borders for professional handling of matters. Sure, there are exceptions, but overall it’s a little disappointing.

It could just be me but I got the feeling that the live scene is not what it used to be. Could be that more and more people use the net to discover bands instead of going out and supporting new bands live. What is you experience with the live scene?
– Generally, I think you’re right about how things have changed/are still changing. People are becoming more selective, with pre-listening to bands before witnessing them live. I’ve been guilty of this as well, but I’m trying to go to local concerts as unbiased as possible, but it also depends on the ticket prices, since I don’t want to be flat-out disappointed when paying 40+ Euros for a concert. I’ve got a massive aversion towards the smartphone zombie crowd, though – nothing worse than a hundred people raising their hands, but not their fists or horns, holding their goddamn display flashlights up in the air!

What does the future hold?
– Hopefully another Adder’s Fork release! Also another music video for future material, because doing one for the current EP’s title track was a lot of fun and I’ve found a great artist who makes it possible to create them without me going broke!
Soon I’ll start writing new material. Since “The Individualist” is gathering positive reception from many different directions, the motivation is high to write and record another release, in whatever shape or form this will be.
Thank you for a very interesting interview, glad I could answer some question about Adder’s Fork!